Sermon Proper 25 Year A

Proper 25
Year A
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Preached in New Albany, IN


Hearing the passage today from Deuteronomy is a little unsettling. Moses is taken to the land of Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, where he gets to look at the Promised Land and then be told or reminded “you don’t get to go there.” It really does seem, well, just wrong. How can God, our loving, caring, faithful God do this to one of His most faithful and dependable servants?
Looking way back to the end of Exodus 2, remember that Moses defended a Hebrew who was being beaten by an Egyptian and all he got for that was the Hebrews turning on him. He fled from Egypt and settled in the land of Midian presumably to live out his life taking care of his father-in-laws flock. God, however, had other plans. God called Moses to deliver his people from the Egyptians (Exodus 3:9). Needless to say, Moses is less than an enthusiastic about this endeavor. Back and forth the two go, and Moses obeys and goes. Then for forty years he has to travel through the desert and put up with these grumbling, never satisfied, whiney Israelites. Not only does he put up with them, but he repeatedly defends them to God—over and over and over. Seems like he deserves a little more than just a view.
Commentators far more knowledgeable than I, have for years tried to figure out why Moses was not permitted into the Promised Land. There are two points of view. The first is that Moses is being punished for not showing God’s holiness. You can look this up in Numbers 20, but basically the Israelites were fussing at Moses and Aaron because they didn’t have water (just an aside—their sister Miriam had just died), but still despite their grief, Moses and Aaron intervened for the people. And here is where Moses messed up. God told Moses to hold the staff and command water to come from the rock. Instead, Moses struck the rock with the staff. (water did come out) But God said to Moses, “Because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” That seems quite drastic in light of all the things Moses has done. Where is the grace? Where is the forgiveness? Where is the understanding? Where is the fairness—these people did things far worse for crying out loud!?!?
The second thought by commentators is that Moses takes the sins of the people on himself—he dies outside of the promised land in order that the Israelites may enter it. This still doesn’t sit really well, but we can understand it a little better. Frankly it fits a bit better into our cultural thinking. The leader is ultimately responsible, the buck stops here. Its part of being a leader—the risk of being a leader. Not only that, it actually elevates Moses’ character—he’s the suffering servant, he’s self giving, he’s loyal to the people. For those of you who would rather go with this thought process, look at Deuteronomy 1:37; 3:26; and 4:21.
The bottom line is that Moses doesn’t get to enter the Promised land. He doesn’t get to close the deal—and if we looked at this from the 21st century perspective, it looks a little like he failed. He was good, but not quite good enough. Moses must pass the reins onto Joshua who gets to lead the people into the Promised Land. Someone else will be remembered as finishing the job.
Some of you may remember the Iranian hostage crisis which lasted from 1979-Jan. 20 1981—444 days. I wasn’t yet at an age where I understood or even really cared about politics. I couldn’t have told you whether my parents were democrats or republicans, BUT I can remember thinking how unfair it was that 20 minutes after Reagan gave his Inauguration address, the hostages were released and everyone started talking about what a great president he was. Carter didn’t close the deal—, he’s not remembered for the months of effort he put into getting a release--today’s passage feels a little bit like that to me.
Let’s be honest with ourselves. We want to be, we value more, we remember more, we honor more, those who bring something to its successful completion. Look back to the beginnings of our country—George Washington, the greatly revered and honored general who closed the deal in the American Revolution was elected the first President. Look back even further in the beginnings of our own church. Thomas Cranmer was a leader in the English Reformation, he helped build a case for Henry VIII’s dissolution of marriage from Catherine of Aragon, and guess what he was named (with the help of Anne Boleyn’s family) the new Archbishop of Canterbury. Now I’m not denying these were great men or that they didn’t deserve the honors bestowed upon them—we have our prayer book because of Cranmer, but I am pointing out that we look for movers and shakers who make things happen. (Just don’t read ahead to what eventually happens to Cranmer).
Looking at the 21st century, don’t we still have these thoughts? Isn’t a common thought; a common goal to “make a name for yourself.” And you certainly don’t do that by coming in second—We tell our children participating in sports—work hard and maybe you’ll get named captain—our children in school—work hard—be valedictorian. Don’t give up until you’ve reached your goals—fulfilled your dreams. You can be anything you want to be if you just try hard enough. Well, that’s what we say to ourselves and to others, but I would venture to guess there is not a person here who doesn’t know the pain of disappointment or unfulfilled dreams. So, how do we live with that? Is God taking us to the top of the mountain and showing us what could have been and then saying, but not for you? Thanks for giving your best effort; I’ll let someone else take over from here.
Moses is taken to the top of Mount Nebo and shown the land that God swore to Abraham, Isaac, and to Jacob—God is keeping His promise. God shows this land to Moses, and Moses sees the beginning of the fulfillment of the promise. I think it’s worth noting that Moses doesn’t argue with God; he doesn’t plead his case. And we know he is perfectly capable of doing that. Just two weeks ago we heard how he pleaded for the Israelites when God wanted to punish them for the Golden calf incident. Moses in this moment is leaving between the now and the not yet. And Moses is choosing to live in this moment with acceptance. Moses has done the work God gave for him to do, and now he must step aside, gracefully and confidently knowing that he has been all he could be, that he has faithfully done what God has required of him. He accepts that God has remained faithful to him and he has lived his life faithfully to God in all that he has done. It can’t have been easy.
We too are living in the moment of the now and the not yet. The Kingdom of God is coming but it is not here yet. How do we as a faithful body live our lives in this moment—in this realization? How do we not lose hope, not lose trust, and not lose faithfulness?
Go back in your Bibles to Exodus 3 when God comes to Moses. God says, “Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” And Moses did what God asked. Moses brought them out of Egypt, that’s all that he was asked to do.
Again, our culture says look at the big picture—get your head around that and then create the steps needed to reach the ultimate goal. I assure you I’m not advocating not setting goals, not trying to be the best you can be—not reaching for the stars. But when we don’t live up to our standards or culture’s standards, when we don’t believe we are making an impact, how do we stay the course? Who gets to define our success?
Our culture says it and even as a church we are caught up in that. When we talk about mission, our goals are out there big and huge, should we instead look in our own backyards. I know ya’ll do that here with your many community outreach programs including providing the Friday night meals. You are touching lives and often you don’t know what the final impact will be. You are an example of honest faithful living in the now and not yet.
And yet I know it’s still a struggle. It’s a struggle looking at all that needs to be done, all that we want to do. I wonder if we need to rewire our thought processes. Living as members of the Body of Christ, we are called to help bring the Kingdom of God into the world. We are called to bring honor to God in all that we do. It’s a heavy load, so perhaps we should leave the big picture to God and instead focus on what God is calling each of us to do in our lives each and every day.
As we come to the altar today, we glimpse for a brief moment the Kingdom of God on earth, for a brief moment we are not living in the in-between, no through the mystery of the Eucharist, we for a moment get a foretaste of the heavenly kingdom. John Westeroff says that at the Eucharist we “engage all our senses in a weekly dinner party in the reign of God after which we are prepared to go forth to love and serve God in our daily lives and work.” I add, in whatever that is. In whatever we are called to do, we are called to be Christ’s presence in the world.
How can you live today as faithfully as Moses remembering that God too is faithful? What is God calling you to do this morning, this day, this week?